Understanding Black Holes: Formation, Size, and Visibility Explained

KOMPAS.com – A black hole is a place in space where its gravity can attract everything that is nearby.

Gravity is so strong because matter is squeezed into a very small space. This can happen when a star is dying.

Reporting from the National Geographic page, black holes are points in space that are so dense that they create deep gravitational indentations.

Outside certain regions, not even light can escape the powerful gravitational pull of black holes.

And anything that gets too close, whether it’s a star, a planet, or a spaceship, will stretch and compress in a process known as spaghettification.

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Not visible

Because no light can escape its gravitational pull, humans cannot see black holes.

Black holes cannot be seen because their strong gravity pulls all light towards their center.

However, space telescopes with special instruments can help find black holes.

Scientists can see how strong gravity affects the stars and gas around the black hole.

When a black hole and star are close together, high-energy light is produced. This kind of light cannot be seen with the human eye.

Scientists use satellites and telescopes in space to see high-energy light.

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Black hole size

Quoted from the NASA page, black holes can be large or small. It is known that the smallest black hole is only one atom in size, but has a mass like a large mountain.

Another type of black hole is called “stellar”, its mass can reach 20 times the mass of the Sun. There are many stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way galaxy.

The largest black holes are called “supermassive”, which are known to have a mass equivalent to more than 1 million Suns.

Scientists have found evidence that every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center.

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A. It has a mass of about 4 million suns and can accommodate several million earths.

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The process of forming a black hole

The most commonly known way that black holes form is through the death of a star.

When a star reaches the end of its life, most of it expands, loses mass, and then cools to form a white dwarf.

In the final stage, giant stars will explode and produce a powerful explosion called a supernova.

Such an explosion throws the star’s material into space but leaves the star’s core behind.

In supernova remnants, there is no longer any force opposing the gravity of the star’s mass, so the star’s core begins to collapse in on itself.

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If the mass is reduced to a very small point, a black hole will be born.

Scientists suspect that the smallest black holes formed at the beginning of the universe.

Then stellar black holes form when the center of a very large star falls in on itself, or collapses.

Meanwhile, supermassive black holes formed at the same time as the galaxy in which they reside.

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2023-09-15 03:15:00
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